Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Sometimes when I'm shopping I spot supplies that I think could make something fun, but I have to let the idea marinate in my head for a few days before I've figured out exactly what I want to do! I'd originally spotted a bunch of great damask pillow cases at the Dollar Tree and wanted to turn them into sweet holiday pillows. I couldn't find the right color combo, however, to actually make it work. (They would have been amazing if I could have found orange pillows, but specificity is sometimes too much to ask for the Dollar Tree).

When I was rummaging through the pillow cases I spotted some similarly styled damask table cloths, table runners and napkins. I suppose if you really wanted your couch and table setting to match you could pick up all 4 items, but they seemed a bit too matchy matchy to me. I ruminated on the black damask set for a few days before deciding I wanted to whip up a Halloween themed table runner. Originally I thought I might cut up the table runners and hang smaller pieces on dowels to make banners of sorts, and I may still decide to do this, but for now, I love how my table runner turned out. It really couldn't have been an easier project.

The most time consuming part of this project was picking out the right Halloween-y inspired font to use for the table runner. You can throw "Halloween fonts" into Google and come up with a ton of free fonts to install on your computer. I had a certain vision in my mind, so I just kept searching until I found the right one. The font I used here is called Blackwood Castle and I found it on www.DaFont.com.

You can find a more detailed tutorial for freezer paper stencils I've done before here, but I'll run through the quick and dirty of how I made this below.

After I set up my design in Microsoft Publisher (I suppose I could have easily used Word too). I printed out the text in the font I'd decided on and got to work. I actually ended up mixing up the font style for each word because I really liked how the word "eek" looked in lower case letters, but hated how "boo" looked lower case. Mix it up and decide what works best for you.

I traced the letters onto my freezer paper and then carefully cut them out. Remember to save the inner pieces of your letters!! I ironed my table runner, lined up the stencil so they were both the same distance from the bottom of the points and then ironed them on - including the little inside pieces for the letters (which you can see in the B, and O's below. Once I was happy with their placement (I had to carefully peel off "eek" and realign it) I was ready to paint.

I decided to use silver paint for this project because I thought that white might be too stark on the table runner. I wanted the letters to show, but not overly pop in color.

Once the paint was dry I carefully peeled off the freezer paper and it was done!

It wasn't until I was all done that I realized that my table runner was WAY TOO LONG for our little Ikea table. It hangs off the sides nicely though so if we were having a party where we weren't sitting at the table it would hang nicely.

From this photo you can see that mine is about a foot and a half too big, but it's okay, I still love it.

Close up: I decided to go light on the silver paint because I LOVED how the damask pattern showed through the fabric. If you didn't like this, I'd recommend doing one light coat, letting it dry, and then adding more paint. It's better to add more paint in stages so that the moisture from the paint doesn't make the freezer paper lift.

Because I had all of the supplies on hand, except for the table runner, this project cost me exactly $1. Not too bad, for a sweet Halloween decoration!!

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

I have to start this blog post off with the cuteness that is Mr. Figg. Figgy's mom sent me this adorable photo of him napping while wearing his Halloween Pet Bow Tie. Just look at him!! Halloween Pet Bow Ties are available in the shop for a week or so longer so be sure to snatch up yours today.

I've been doing a bit of prep work in anticipation of my very first craft show coming up in November. I've been trying to get extra product assembled, been working on branding and different elements that are required to put on a display for the show. I thought I'd share some of my work thus far today.

Here's a freezer paper banner I made for my shop:

Freezer paper stencils are super easy and fun. You can read my tutorial on how to make them here.

After searching around for price tags, and realizing that for what they are they tend to be rather expensive, I came up with my own. It only required that I buy a heart shaped punch! I had the paper, embroidery floss, and tiny hole punch on hand. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.

I finally came up with a felt sample color guide. I've been meaning to do this for a long while now, and when I was organizing my felt the other day I finally got around to putting together a sample sheet.

I've been working on developing some sample mobile figures for the show too. While it's not reasonable to bring finished mobiles to the show (just too much work), I figured I should show a bunch of my samples so that people can get a sense of the designs I've made previously as well as a few new designs I've had floating around in my head for a while.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Don't forget to place your order for Halloween Pet Bow Ties!! I've recently added these Candy Corn and Halloweenie themed fabrics to the shop so your pets can get fancy for the upcoming spooky holiday!

After getting a few custom orders for dogs lighter than 15 lbs, I also recently added x-small bow ties to the shop. I always try to make sure that the bow ties are a comfortable fit for my clients if they're too big, your pet is less likely to wear them for very long.

Be sure to check back soon for more holiday themed items. I've been working on on a lot of new items for the shop, and also for a craft fair I'm attending in November. The in-house model tried to help me out last week, but ended up, shockingly, not being very helpful. He stole one of the new felt holiday bow ties I was making and a chase ensued. Mind you I did stop to take a photo, so I wasn't that worried. I'd like to believe that this means it's earned his seal/drool (?) of approval.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

It's officially starting to look like fall here in New England so I feel like it's finally appropriate to share this awesome DIY!! A month ago, the weather was being particularly wonky. It seemed like fall already because it was cold and grey, even though it was still technically August. I was at my local Dollar Tree one weekend when I found some fantastic supplies which inspired me to gear up for the new season!! (Yes, this has been hanging on our door for a month already - we're good like that!) I purchased 1 wood wreath, and 8 bunches of leaves and in about 30 minutes came up with a beautiful wreath for our front door. The best part of this DIY is that it only cost $9. Yes, $9!!

This DIY is so easy. Here's what you'll need:
1 wreath form
8 leave bunches (you may need more, you may need less)
Glue gun & extra glue
Scissors
Small bit of wire or soda top to glue on the wreath to hang it up
Iron

Plug in your glue gun and pull apart your first bunch of leaves. Separate your big leaves from your small leaves. If you've got different shades in your leaves you might want to sort that too. I had some that were a bit more brown and some that were a bit more orange so I made sure I spread them out throughout the wreath. If you've picked leaf bunches with extras (mine had awesome squash, little balls, and pine cones) put those off to the side - you'll use those last. Here you also might want to use your scissors to cut off the "stem" part on your leaves.

I started my wreath by scattering big leaves around the wreath and hot gluing them in place. For some of the leaves that were bent (you can see some in the bottom left of this photo) you can easily iron them flat by setting your iron to a medium temperature and pushing quickly and firmly on the leaves. Keep your iron moving though because the vein parts of the leaves are plastic and will melt. Keep that side down and away from direct contact with the iron.

After I'd scattered about 15 leaves all over - inside the circle and outside the circle. I decided to switch strategies and work from section to section. Layer your big and little leaves. You can always go back and add leaves if you feel like a section is a bit thin. I also kept most leaves going the same direction but occasionally added a few small leaves on the very top layer that went the other direction. It's up to you.

Keep adding.

And adding some more until you're filled in!

Now use your extra bits and glue them around your wreath at your discretion. I had some extra pieces left over that I didn't end up using. I also got to a point where I felt like I needed to hang up the wreath to see where the last few extras should be tucked in. My door happens to be right near an outlet so I just glued on the last few extras as it was on the door. Do what works best for you.

Here's how I added a hanging loop: I used some wire, looped it around a few times on my fingers, and then hot glued the loop to the back of the wreath. If I'd had a soda can I would have used the pop top and glued it on to the wreath. Either one works. Once the glue is cooled - make sure it's cool or it'll fall off your door - you can hang up your wreath!

Admire your work, because you're done!!

Wreath-y bonus: I had an extra foam ring and some burlap lying around so I whipped up this wreath for our other door. It's inside and on a door nobody technically ever uses, but I know it's there. Here's how I made this one: I cut strips of burlap, frayed one side, and then glued them to the wreath. I had some wrap flowers from another project in a craft box so I quickly hot glued those on. Added a burlap hanging ribbon, a bow, and boom - done.

Bonus-Bonus: My husband fell in love with this crocheted pumpkin when were were at a craft fair a few weeks ago. It's paired here with an AWESOME skull candy dish I picked up from the Dollar Tree a few years ago.